How to Find and Tame Wolves/Dogs
How to Find and Tame Wolves in Minecraft
Exploring the vast wilderness of Minecraft can be a lonely act, but fear not, for friendly wolves can be found to help you on your journey. Tamed wolves not only serve as nice companions, but also help fight off hostile mobs at night. Wolves can also help scare away pesky Skeletons that might bother you. Getting a wolf is easy enough too. Just have a couple bones in your inventory and venture out to the nearest forest biome to find a pack of them. Once you’ve found one, simply feed them some bones until they become your tame and loyal helper that will follow you around on all your adventures.
◆ Items You Need Before Searching
▸ Bones:
They can be obtained by Skeletons or found in the chest loot. You will need at least 10-12 of them to have a high chance of randomly taming a wolf.
▸ Raw Meat:
It can be Porkchops, beef, or chicken. You will need them to heal your wolf after battles or to breed them later.
▸ Dye (Optional):
Any color of Dye can be used to personalize your tamed wolf’s collar.
▸ Lead (Optional):
It is useful for leading your wolf across the ocean or other surfaces which the wolf cannot walk on.
◆ Where to Find Wolves in Minecraft
Wolves can be found in certain biomes. Knowing which biomes are the most common will save your time searching them. So following are some biomes that will assist you in this.
Forest & Old Growth Forest:
Normal forests are a good place to find wolves in packs of two or three. It is best to search near oak and birch trees during the day.
Taiga & Snowy Taiga:
Taigas, which have spruce trees and ferns as their respective vegetation and ground cover, are the most common biome for wolf spawns. Snowy taigas also spawn wolves, but the packs are often larger and easier to spot against the white snow.
Grove & Snowy Plains:
Wolves can also be found wandering near mountains in gorges or searching through plains for something to eat.
◆ Step-by-Step Taming Walkthrough
These are the steps to follow when you find a wild wolf:
1. Equip a Bone in your Main Hand
Put bones in your hotbar and equip them before approaching the wolf.
2. Approach Slowly and Don’t Punch It
Get close to the wolf and never punch or hit any wild wolf because the whole pack will come after you.
3. Feed it Bones until Hearts Pop up
Right click or tap on the wolf to feed it a bone. There is a 1/3 chance that it will work so you need to keep feeding it bones until red hearts burst around its head.
4. Check for a Red Collar and Sitting Wolf
When it’s been fed enough bones, a red collar should appear around its neck and it should sit down. Right click or tap on it to make it get up and follow you around!
◆ Pro Tips & Mistakes to Avoid
Taming wolves is an easy task, but it can be challenging sometimes to keep them fed and alive.
Never kill a wild wolf or a pack of wolves:
If you harm a single one, the rest will swarm you. Just escape until they lose interest instead of fighting them off.
Heal your dogs with raw or cooked meat:
The faster your dog loses its health, the more tail length it has. To heal your dog, you simply have to feed it any kind of raw or cooked meat.
Rename collars with any dye:
You only have to equip a dye in your inventory while facing a dog that you have already tamed, then right-click or press the corresponding button to open the screen for renaming collars. This will let you put any color you want on their necks (collars), making it considerably easier to differentiate between several tamed dogs. You can also differentiate between them by giving them name tags.
Prevent teleportation:
Your dog will teleport to wherever you are when they automatically follow. This can be troublesome if you go too far away or if you are exploring a dangerous area, such as a lava lake, cave, or Nether fortress. The solution is to make your dog sit before exploring dangerous areas or going too far away.
◆ Frequently Asked Questions
◆ Final Thoughts
Having a pack of tamed wolves makes adventuring through the Minecraft world so much more fun. Get out your bones and head on down to the nearest Taiga or Forest to get your pack member today!